Customer service has become a main focus and an important means by which many commercial service providers, such as banks, insurance companies, hospitals and retailers, distinguish themselves and remain competitive in their respective markets. Service providers attempt to gain new customers and to retain existing customers by providing and improving service that meets the needs and expectations of their customers. Pharmacies are not immune to competition and similarly rely upon providing and improving customer service to retain and expand customer bases. Data show that a major reason for a customer to switch from one pharmacy to another for such services as drug prescription fulfillment is due to dissatisfaction with the quality of service that a pharmacy provides. In particular, pharmacy service issues are cited as a major reason for substantial loses in annual revenue from prescription sales.
Pharmacy service issues can result from a number of problems that pharmacies and customers experience that can range from a lack of personnel at pharmacy service counters to a lack of adequate communication between pharmacies and customers concerning any problems that cause prescriptions to be delayed, only partially filled or not filled at all. As a result, pharmacies cannot meet customers' needs and expectations, for instance, with respect to promised prescription pick-up times.
Many pharmacies do not attempt to account for the root causes of service issues. For example, a large percentage of drug prescriptions can develop into problem transactions due to, for instance, insurance rejection, lack of pharmacy inventory or lack of authorization for prescription refill. Problems transactions can require separate processes for resolution outside of prescription fulfillment processes. As a result, problem transactions have a tremendous impact on customer service by interrupting the workflow of prescription fulfillment and removing pharmacy staff from dedicated responsibilities. When pharmacy staff are removed from fulfillment processes and attempt to resolve problem transactions, such as by contacting a third party including an insurance provider or a doctor, any grouping of prescriptions to be filled and/or any prioritization of prescription fulfillment can often be destroyed and can cause delayed or no prescription fulfillment. As a result, a pharmacy cannot provide service that meets customers' needs and expectations, especially at pick-up when customers anticipate their prescriptions have been properly processed and are available.
As noted above, prescription fulfillment processes generally are not designed to handle problem transactions. Such processes often do not surface issues or problems early enough during prescription processing to allow sufficient time for resolution. Prescription fulfillment processes also encourage pharmacy staff to pass problems along rather than to attempt resolution because no clear protocols or procedures are provided to resolve specific issues and problems. In addition, members of pharmacy staff typically are not specifically assigned or dedicated to resolving problem transactions and are often involved in multiple tasks at different stages of prescription fulfillment. As a result, pharmacy staff can have difficulty in organizing prescriptions, maintaining priority of fulfillment and preventing unfilled prescriptions from accumulating when such tasks are performed along with efforts to resolve issues and problems. Prescription processing thereby becomes inefficient and inconsistent and can significantly impact customer service.
Resolution of problem transactions, therefore, can become complex and time-consuming, and can require a number of pharmacy staff, which often reinforces problems and/or causes additional problems, such as those noted, including unfilled prescription accumulation. In addition, pharmacy information systems often are not fully or properly used to uncover issues and problems and to enable resolution during early stages of processing in order to minimize/eliminate customer service problems.
Further, pharmacy workflow often neglects or does not adequately staff pharmacy/customer interfaces. For example, pharmacies rarely call customers in advance of pick-up times to inform customers of issues or problems associated with fulfilling their prescriptions. Customers, therefore, are not aware of any problems until customers attempt to pick up their prescriptions. Also, pharmacies often do not staff services for prescription intake and pick-up with persons having the skills and experience to explain problem transactions and/or to attempt resolution. In particular, pharmacy staff providing pick-up and cashiering services often must attempt to provide customers with explanations for problem transactions. Typically, such persons are ill informed and the least capable people to explain issues and problems to customers. Customer service thereby can be further impacted and cause significant customer dissatisfaction.
Thus, systems and methods of drug prescription fulfillment are desired that resolve at least some of the issues and problems associated with prescription processing and strive to meet customer needs and expectations.